Re: Advancing from Unix Sysadmin to Programmer

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Date: 20 May 2004 15:27:31 -0700

Martin McMahon wrote:
>
> I am a 33 year old Unix System Admin and am currently at a stage
> in my career where I have identified a change is needed in my career.
>
> I am nearly finished (one year left) a B.Sc. in Information Technology
> and have approx. 8 years of solid Unix System Admin experience behind
> me. I am also proficient in Shell Programming, Perl and reasonably
> proficient in C. I do not have experience in OO programming, but am
> practising at home on personal projects.
>
> I would be very grateful if there is someone out there who could
> answer this question for me, or who has gone through the same scenario.

I went the opposite direction, and I considered the move from
developer to sysadmin to be advancing. That's entirely a matter
of personal tastes. Realistically both are engineering professions
and the change from one to the other is lateral.

> My question is:
> Is it possible at this stage of my life to transfer (by whatever
> means) to a purely programming role, considering my age,
> experience and education?

Certainly. Developer and sysadmin both require similar education
and training. They are different in personality not preparation.

> Any experiences, opinions and criticisms are all appreciated.
> I realise some may say that Unix Sysadmins *are* programmers,
> but I do not believe that to be the case - we are more like
> mechanics who maintain what has been designed and occasionally
> repair or tack on certain additions of our own.

Senior on the SAGE scale mandates extensive programming experience.
So there are intermediates out there who aren't programmers but
all of the seniors are programmers. No matter how long a
non-coder might have been in the field.

> Finally for anyone who might believe I'm being rash -
> I did not suddenly decide this, but have been thinking and mulling
> this over in my head for over a year now. A conversation I had with
> my boss recently (by far the best and open minded manager I have
> ever worked for) is what enabled me to realise I needed to make a
> decision.

Thought it over, good stuff. For me I eventually found development
dull but here I am a sysadmin 24 years now and it's still not dull.
You have decided to grab the steering wheel of your career. Very
appropriate action to take.

• Previous message: Robert Melson: "Re: Advancing from Unix Sysadmin to Programmer"
• In reply to: Martin McMahon: "Advancing from Unix Sysadmin to Programmer"
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